[IC] The Vanquishing of the Vampire Plague (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

[Sarpedon]

Kevin laughed when Zara admitted to having never had a man kneeling before her, and shook his head as he doffed his gloves and shifted over to get a more comfortable grip on her foot. "Don't think of it so much as kneeling, I don't really do that..." he replied as he started to work on her feet. He was careful at first, but as he didn't get any protests, his massaging became firmer as he worked to relax her obviously distressed foot. He worked slowly, but very thoroughly, and figured they could easily end up spending twenty minutes here if his companion didn't cut him off early. Not that he was terribly upset about that, since it meant that Zara would continue to be an effective partner, instead of someone he'd have to carry.

He raised an eyebrow when she looked surprised, and only noticed after the fact that he'd been on fire. "That happens sometimes..." offered with a chuckle. And after his brief bout of paranoia, the contractor snapped his fingers and motioned that he needed the vampire's other foot. He thought about jokingly asking her to return the favour, but decided not to risk it, mostly on the off chance that she said yes. He wouldn't subject anyone he didn't hate to such a fate.

"Better is... Relative, I guess..." he offered as he started to forcibly relax her other foot. "Sure, it's nice to not get killed and eaten, but when you spend enough time paranoid, you go a little crazy, makes it hard to relax... Then sometimes you wake up shooting at things that aren't there, and then you have to bug out because anything could have heard you shooting and be coming to see what's left..." he sighed as he realized he was rambling and trailed off. "Sorry... Things get crazy out here sometimes..." he offered, focusing more on his work to avoid convincing his new friend he was a psycho or something. The last thing he needed was for her to not trust him...

[sanquin]

To Zara's surprise Kevin was actually pretty decent at massaging. People tended to use too little pressure, or were completely oblivious to where and how you had to massage. Yet he hit the right spots, and didn't treat her feet like she was a baby. Not that she wanted to admit that...she had heard stories of compliments like that being taken the wrong way. As if she would be 'interested' in him. And that was a line of thought she didn't want to follow through with. It was better for people like her to not get involved with anyone, as they'd just get hurt in the end. Or in the worst case, they'd die in rather unpleasant ways... Still, it made her wonder where he had picked up skills like these.

The woman noticed her cigarette was already almost gone when Kevin motioned for her other foot. She sighed, sucking back the last bit before tossing the filter away, keeping the smoke in her lungs for a bit, and slowly blowing it into the air again. "Just try not to shoot in my direction when that happens..." She replied, grinning a little bit. "Death by paranoid partner...kind of an embarrassing way to go considering the things I've survived so far." She did make a mental note that she might not get a proper night's sleep once or twice though. Something she wasn't looking forward to. But with any luck there was a very nice sum of money waiting for her. And if so, it would all be worth it.

Once Kevin was finished Zara put her boots back on again, ready to move on. Her feet of course still hurt a little. That was something a massage couldn't take away. But they did feel a lot better already. Plus that itch for a smoke had been taken care of as well. So there shouldn't be any more problems for the next few hours on her end, apart from her walking pace maybe. "Ready to go again. Lead the way~" She spoke, following right behind him as he did.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin chuckled when Zara asked him not to shoot in her direction. As long as she stayed laying down, she should be fine, but he couldn't come up with a reassuring way to tell her that he couldn't make any promises. The rest of the foot rub went by in relative silence, the contractor finding peace and solace in the quiet of the world around him. And once his companion was feeling better, and announced that she was ready to go, he pulled out a cigarette of his own, and lit up as he started walking again. It was generally safer to smoke on the move, he'd found. It spread the signature out. And while it did leave more of a trail for those who knew where to look, anyone good enough to follow a cigarette trail probably didn't need one in the first place.

The werehyena kept the pace slow regardless. He could easily outpace Zara, of that he was sure, but the vampire was the whole reason he was out here, so he saw no reason to leave her behind. Indeed, he had more than enough motivation to stay relatively close to her and make sure no harm could get anywhere near her vitally important self. With that in mind, he hefted his rifle a little higher as he finished his smoke, and continued to sweep the area as he walked. She's cute, eh? Coyote decided to chime in at the worst possible time, of course, and the soldier groaned.

"Not now." he hissed as quietly as possible, not wanting to freak his friend out.

You're all alone out here... the fiery canine still didn't seem to understand things like social boundaries, and the shaman had given up trying to explain such things.

"Contact left." the man said it matter-of-fact-ly, and it worked like a charm. He swivelled left and shouldered his rifle, and Coyote shut up immediately, retreating out of the way until he was needed. Of course, there was nothing there, and he quickly returned to his walk as if nothing had happened. The trickster god was kind enough not to jump back in and start being irritating immediately, though, and Kevin took full advantage of the reprieve...

((What do you think? A nice calm walk to their campsite, or should we liven things up?))

[sanquin]

The two moved on in silence, Kevin now having his smoke. Zara wasn't sure if things between them were awkward, or if they both just didn't have a lot to say at the moment. It was quite an odd situation all together. Going on a two week long trip with a stranger for the promise of a large sum of money... Had she not been infected, she would have never agreed to an arrangement like that. Money or not. But desperation had a tendency to change your view on things.

As they walked the woman kept her eyes open for any movement around them. Though it was also useful to remain at least a little bit familiar with the environment. It was pretty much impossible for her to be aware of her surroundings when things got exciting. As once her feral side took over, her body basically reacted on instinct alone. Luckily Kevin was there as well, as otherwise she would have probably been screwed already when those raiders tried to ambush them.

As they walked Kevin decided to start talking to himself. Or at least that was what it sounded like. And his warnings about being paranoid showed a little as well it seemed. 'Contact left'. Sounded like military speak for 'something's coming from the left side', though of course there was nothing there. It was still better than contact indeed coming from the left side and neither of them noticing though. Now she just hoped any night time paranoia was kept at a minimum. Without a good night's sleep she would start feeling pretty crappy during the mornings.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin relaxed once Coyote left him alone, though he seemed to be just in time to get surprised himself. Contact right the fire god whispered in his head too late. It was revenge for his trick earlier. The first shot sliced off the end of his cigarette, and then smacked into a tree on his left. The werehyene reacted immediately, spurred on by his guardian's warning.

"Fuck." he declared, the word spitting out his cigarette butt at the same time. He turned to his right and swung his rifle up, "Contact right!" leaving his lips of its own accord. This time he shouted the words, and it was obviously different from his ruse only moments before. He squeezed the trigger on his rifle slowly, putting calculated shots anywhere he assumed his target would be.

"Shift left! Boulder, ten metres!" he barked, assuming Zara had rotated with him. He didn't have time to treat her like a child, so he just hoped she could take orders. Unfortunately his orders would probably seem rather vague to someone without a military background. "Go! Go! Go!" he encouraged the woman, spotting a muzzle flash as their enemy fired another shot. He put three rounds toward the spot he'd noticed the flash, and then picked up his own pace as he moved toward the boulder himself. It was going to be a long day.

Doing his best to conserve their ammunition, the contractor provided covering fire while they moved behind the only thing guaranteed to stop bullets nearby. Trees were surprisingly unreliable, especially when your enemy was using rifle rounds. Three-thirty-eight? Coyote suggested, probably at random.

"Can't be. Report's too quiet. Short-barrelled three-oh-eight with a shitty suppressor, maybe..." the warrior muttered back.

He's pretty far away, regardless.

"No shit." the soldier wasn't convinced Coyote was trying to help any more. "Does he have any friends?" the question left his mouth just as he heard the distinctive crack of an automatic, eastern-bloc weapon start up. A good dozen rounds smacked into the other side of the boulder he was hunkered behind.

Soviet. Coyote observed unhelpfully

"PK-Something." he grumbled as another burst tore into the rock. "It's going to be a long day..." he took a deep breath and then looked to his partner. "All right, Zara... There's at least two of them, and they have us dialed-in. Do you want to draw fire, first? Or do you want to spot first?" he started fumbling around in his chest rig while he spoke, pulling out a radio handset and plugging a cable into it. The cable connected to a much smaller handset with a clip on the back. "Take this. Stow the radio, use the handset. Press to talk, release to listen, I'll try not to lose it when you screw up radio procedures." he ordered as he waited for her to answer his question. "This is probably going to take hours. Possibly the rest of the day. Be patient, stay alert, and let's hope we're better at flanking than they are." Kevin wondered if he was better off asking her to find some slightly better cover and sit tight. He didn't want to underestimate his companion, however, and figured she might as well get used to life out in the wasteland eventually...

[sanquin]

And suddenly their situation went from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye. A sharp bang sounded through the air, and immediately Kevin was on high alert. For a moment it sounded like he was hit, but everything seemed to be fine for now. Zara had her weapon out a second later. Though by that time Kevin was already barking orders. "Wha? Shift where what?" She replied, not being used to gun fights, let alone being ordered around in such a fashion. It took her another two seconds before she realized he meant that they should take cover behind a large boulder to their left. So while keeping an eye on where the shots had been fired from, she quickly headed in that direction. Kevin was smart enough to provide some covering fire. Clearly the man was a lot more experienced than her in situations like this. No surprise, but still the difference was very noticeable.

Soon after they had both taken cover, quite a few bullets hit the other side. Definitely a different weapon than the last one. So the enemy was with at least two, maybe more. Zara ducked even lower on instinct, even though the boulder already provided plenty of cover. "Shit! This is why I never left the city area!" She exclaimed, having trouble thinking of what to do next. Except return fire that is, but they didn't have the luxury of spare ammunition to waste. Luckily, once again, Kevin was the one to take charge. As he talked the man handed her a comm system of some kind. She put it on and put the radio in the inner pocket of her jacket.

As for his tactics, it was easy to choose between the two for her. He could regenerate, she couldn't. And she had a very high chance to go nuts if she was the one drawing fire. So it was obvious whom should do what. "I'll do the spotting. You really don't want me dealing with too much excitement if you want me to remain sane. Plus my eye has a tactical hud. As long as I mark them, I'll be able to keep track of them fairly easily." The vampiress quickly checked her gun to make sure the safety was off, then switched her eye to the right setting before nodding to him. "Ready when you are." Not really...she was nervous as all hell. Though she managed to keep calm at least decently considering that this was her first fire fight ever. And she wasn't going to be more ready any time soon either. So it was better to just go with it.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin noticed that Zara's confusion was immediate and all-consuming when shit went flying for the fan full-tilt. She seemed to improve once they were both in cover, however, and hoped she could keep it together long enough for them to make it out of this. She got her radio sorted out, and then declared that she wanted to spot first. That was fair. He just hoped she was good with that piece of hers. Of course, then the vampire revealed that she had a heads-up-display in her eyeball the whole time. "What the fuck?" it was more of a statement than a question, though, and while his companion was messing with her eye settings the werehyena poked his head out again and fired several more rounds in the general direction of their enemies. Then he moved over to the woman and gently tilted her head back, his free hand grabbing the left arm of his eyewear until the word "SYNC'D" popped up. "You should have said something earlier, I have all kinds of information I can just push to your hud, now." he didn't make a big deal out of it, though, and picked his rifle up off his chest and took a few deep breaths.

"All right. I'm going to run that way," he gestured roughly back the way they'd come, "And you're going to run over to that tree." he gestured again, the tree was only a couple of metres from their boulder, and further up an incline, "You're going to take up a firing position, and you're going to try and kill the fucker with the machine gun. If all you see is a round-ish bright flash, aim just above it. If it's got direction to it, aim opposite the way it's pointing, and just above it. Take your time, conserve your ammo... It's probably going to be a long day... Oh, and you'll probably want to move every few shots so they don't figure out where you are. Watch your left side in case they try to flank you.... Fuck, I don't have time to teach you all this... I hope you learn quickly. Good luck, Zara." Kevin sighed, took another deep breath, and then stepped out from behind their boulder. He walked with purpose, and squeezed off a shot every five or so seconds, trying to bait out return fire from the machine gun position, only to find out the bastard had hopped up and changed positions while he'd been talking.

"Fucking shit." he grumbled, switching targets calmly even as he raged vocally. "Eat shit and die, motherfucker." he demanded, but it didn't seem to deter the machine gunner, who responded with unintelligible shouting and a pair of twenty-round bursts. Thankfully, he evaded the worst of the hail of bullets, and the shaman picked up his pace a little as he slowed his rate of fire. He needed to either get close enough to kill their assailants, or draw their fire long enough for Zara to do it. With that in mind, he took cover behind a sturdy-looking tree. It was kind enough to weather the torrent of lead while Kevin summoned up a fireball. He stepped out between bursts from the machine gun and tossed the fireball like it was a grenade. Far more effective than that, however, the fiery ball exploded the moment it touched the ground. With a "Whoosh" the fire was smothered by the cloud of incredibly thick smoke that manifested in the blink of an eye. Using the distraction to his advantage, the contractor immediately set off at a run. He knew when he was no longer concealed, because the machine gun started shooting at him again, instead of into the smoke.

Taking this opportunity to find cover again, the werehyena continued to provide sporadic covering fire as he attempted to raise his partner on the radio. "Zara." he gave up on voice procedures, knowing she likely wouldn't understand, and he needed complete understanding right now. "Push left, try and circle around behind them. If you can, get to the bottom of the hill behind them. They're going to have to change barrels eventually, and when they do, we're going to try rushing them." he hoped that made sense, because he didn't have time to talk any more. A pair of bloodthirsty bandits had decided to try their hand at flanking him. Now pressed from two sides, Kevin turned his fire on the flanking raiders, and started running, hoping to get something solid between himself and everyone trying to kill him.

You could just go crazy. You'll be fine. Coyote suggested.

"I can do this." Kevin replied harshly.

It would be eas- the fire god was cut off by his shaman's defiant bark,

"It would be easier to just off myself. I can do this." he punctuated the declaration by picking off one of his assailants, putting a bullet through their unprotected skull. He felt the bolt lock back at the end of its rearward cycle, and he transitioned flawlessly to his sidearm, since his other target was not exactly far away. He aimed his massive revolver with one hand, while his mechanical arm began the very slow process of reloading a hanging rifle with only one hand. The thunderous roar of the magnum revolver was much more intimidating than the sharp crack of his rifle, and the suddenly-terrified bandit decided to try some last-resort tactics. He pulled out a grenade, and managed to get the pin out before Kevin responded by shooting the man's wrist, and diving away. He buried his face in the dirt, hoping he'd gotten enough of himself behind the rocks that had been between himself and his enemy, that he would survive. He felt the explosion in his sinuses and his chest, and he couldn't hear anything but his ears ringing, but he was alive, and not in pain, so the werehyena called it a win and picked himself up off the ground. Holstering his sidearm, Kevin finished reloading his rifle and then took in his surroundings as his hearing returned. He wasn't sure what was going on any more, but he needed to get back into the fight and make sure Zara wasn't getting torn up by machine gun fire...

[sanquin]

"Shit, sorry... It's not like I ever used the damn thing for anything other than just an eye. Didn't even think to use it's actual functions before." The woman spoke as Kevin synced them up.

She then smirked at Kevin's directions. He explained it to her like she was a kid. Though it was kind of understandable, considering she didn't know much about military tactics and orders. But she was taught how to shoot at least. "My old guy back at the bunker taught me how to aim and shoot at least...so don't worry about that part. Let's just hope I can find enough cover up there." The man sprinted away only a moment later. At first Zara wasn't sure when to move exactly though. As she wasn't able to see where the two enemies were looking just yet.

As more guns were fired, Zara peeked around the area as much as she could without revealing herself to the machine gunner. "Kevin, I spotted the one with the rifle." She spoke, though it probably already showed up on his hud by then. Next up she wanted to try and find the machine gunner, but something else happened first. Suddenly a fireball exploded in the vicinity of one of their enemies. She thought it the perfect chance to start flanking the fuckers, so she dashed like a madwoman, keeping as many trees and rocks between her and where she figured the enemy was as possible. Being faster than even your average man was a nice little advantage in this situation.

She got about halfway to where she wanted to go before everyone stopped firing for a bit. At which point the vampiress stopped moving as well, hiding behind a particularly thick tree. Kevin had been talking to her during her run, so she decided to respond now that she could properly reach for the transmitter again. "Already working on it. I was able to get about half-way so far. I'll check if I can spot anything before moving on." So far it seemed that their enemies hadn't spotted her yet. Though the real challenge for her would be when she did indeed flank them. One, she had to stay as calm as possible while bullets likely started flying her way. Two, she had to find cover on a slope, and use a gun meant for close-to-medium range to provide Kevin some assistance.

Suddenly a new gun sound roared through the air. Zara immediately thought of another enemy, but once she noticed that Kevin was where the sound had come from, she figured it was probably him instead. "Please tell me that new gun I heard was you." She spoke as she looked around for any movement in the area. Nothing in sight just yet though, apart from the guy with the rifle whom she could see moving positions a bit more towards her. "Seems they realized what's going on. The rifle guy is trying to intercept me. I already passed that area though. No sight of the machine gunner yet." It crossed her mind that Kevin was probably annoyed as all hell about how she relayed information. But that was a thought for later. All she could do right now was doing what she could.

[Sarpedon]

Things had seemed to be going well before a grenade went off far too close to him, but now Kevin couldn't hear a thing, even with Zara talking directly into his ear. The last transmission he could remember from his companion was her telling him she was half-way to behind their enemies. He just hoped she'd gotten the rest of the way in the time since. When more automatic weapons fire stitched across the ground in front of him, though, the werehyena knew that wasn't the case, and he scrambled into cover behind the same rocks that had deflected the worst of the grenade blast. He gave his ears another moment, and finally the world started to make sounds again. At that point he poked his head and his rifle out to distract his assailants from the woman sneaking up behind them.

More machine gun fire was waiting for him, but he supposed it was better than Zara getting torn up. Returning fire as best he could, the contractor decided he was going to have to keep moving. "Zara!" he tried his radio as he hopped up, sprinting for cover that was both larger and more solid than the little outcropping of rock he'd been huddled behind. "The fuckers set off a grenade right next to me. I'm okay, but I couldn't hear anything for a while there. How's your progress?" he had to pause a few times to squeeze the trigger on his rifle, but still failed to hit anything. The fact that the machine gun nest was so well constructed was most of the reason for that. Whoever was out here, they knew what they were doing. For the moment, he decided to pause where he was. The rocks and trees between him and the enemy were doing a very good job of soaking up bullets, and he wasn't sure how much further he could circle around without them having to reposition. And if the machine gun had to be repositioned, they might spot Zara before she could sneak up on them and kill her...

[sanquin]

Kevin replied a bit later, explaining that he hadn't heard half of what she had said. Annoying, to say the least, as it meant she had to divert focus on explaining things once again. But there wasn't much you could do about a grenade being thrown at you. "To put it shortly, they're on to what I'm doing but they're looking in the wrong place, and I marked the rifle guy on my HUD. And I feel like I need a distraction of a second or two before I move into position." Mostly because, as soon as they did know where she was, gunfire would be coming her way. And when that happened, keeping relatively calm would become increasingly difficult. And partly because getting shot at was a lot more scary when your opponent was actually trying to kill you. Especially when they had superior fire power.

Zara waited for Kevin to provide said distraction. Considering how he could throw magic around like smoke grenades, she figured that shouldn't be too hard for him. Then as soon as that moment presented itself, the woman once again started sprinting as fast as her legs allowed her to. This time though, she decided to be smart and glance to the side to see if she could spot the machine gunner. At which she partially succeeded. She saw the man moving from his position, but disappearing behind some bushes. This guy was smart, moving positions every time after a few bursts. But it was still better than nothing. Deciding to call it in as she was running, Zara grabbed the radio once again and called it in. "Machine gunner moved further to your right. I lost line of sight though."

Even without Kevin's instructions she knew this meant trouble though. The rifle man was still to his left, even if he was looking for her. Then there was the guy somewhere behind Kevin. And finally the machine gunner who moved to his right. It looked like they were trying to shut Kevin in from all sides.

Finally the vampiress made it to a good spot to flank the one she was after though. Another burst of rounds in Kevin's direction even revealed his location because of the flashes of light. Though he had hidden himself well. One rock just high enough to cover him behind him as he was laying on the ground, and another rock in front of him with just enough clearance to keep Kevin's general area in sight. So Zara still couldn't help. "I'm in position. The guy covered himself though. I can take a shot once he moves again." At which point they would also know where she was...but that was something to deal with once it happened.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin listened intently to what Zara had to say, and quickly realized he could see the person she'd marked, he just hadn't been paying attention. Unfortunately, the man was still in cover, so he couldn't do much about that. He could, however, provide plenty of distraction. He tossed another fireball, and it exploded into another cloud of smoke, that he used to switch positions while laying down suppressing fire in the rough direction of his opponent. Of course, smoke worked both ways, and he failed to hit anything as he slid behind another tree.

He vaguely registered what Zara had to say about the machine gunner repositioning while he focused on the fact that the person shooting at him appeared to have moved. He put the two together as he tried to make his assailant put his head back down, and chuckled a little. The strangest things became funny when people were shooting at him. Then he heard his partner confirm that she was in position, but couldn't take a shot just yet. "Then let's do this. Nobody stops the Payne Train. Remember that." he spoke smoothly over the radio, though he still hadn't gotten over her lack of procedures. He waited a brief instant after he finished speaking, and then tightened his grip on his weapon and stepped out of cover. He moved with purpose, but his gait was smooth and his trigger control was fabulous, considering the circumstances. He maintained steady fire on the machine gunner's position as he moved steadily toward the edge of the man's arcs. Once he was forced to move again, Zara could finish him off, and then they just had to find the marksman who'd ruined his smoke.

At least one bullet ripped through his leg as he moved, and the contractor stumbled as he fought through the pain. He managed to retain his feet, however, and the soldier could feel the wound knitting back together painfully and slowly as he finally slipped out of the beaten zone. Grunting angrily, he continued to scan the hill above him as he looked for any potential enemies. He didn't enjoy being shot, and given the opportunity, he would be more than happy to return the favour...

[sanquin]

Zara started getting into a more comfortable position, laying down on the ground to lower visibility of her position as well. Though it would be difficult not to spot her once they knew her general direction. At least she would have more steady aim this way. Kevin started his distraction at about the same time, moving to the side to lure her target out. "Come on...show yourself asshole." She muttered softly as she waited for her chance. Considering where Kevin was moving it wasn't too difficult to predict where the gunner would go next at least.

After a few seconds, which almost felt like minutes, finally the enemy showed himself. He appeared from behind the rocks, heading for some bushes this time. Bushes were something she could shoot through, but right now she had a much clearer shot. So she took it. While breathing out slowly she gently squeezed the trigger, the loud bang echoing against the rocks. The bullet ripped through one of the man's upper legs rather than through his gut though. He grunted loudly and fell to the ground, but he was still very much alive. Still, this gave Zara some precious time to get closer and finish the job. As a bonus, she would also be less vulnerable to the guy with the rifle. Which was important as she could feel her heart speeding up a little already. A few shots in her direction, maybe even one hitting her, and she was sure her inner monster would be taking over.

So with only a moment's hesitation the woman got up and started running towards her still alive target. Getting just halfway there would already be a huge help. Though as the vampiress ran, bullets now also started to fly her way. The rifle man had been quick to take note of her position, and had opened fire. The first bullet missed, hitting a tree a meter or so behind her, her speed proving useful once again.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin kept moving while he waited for something to happen. It took a lot longer than he'd expected, but the contractor finally heard a shot that definitely wasn't a machine gun or the rifle that had been shooting at him before. Right after that, though, he heard the rifleman open up again, and he decided the only logical course of action at this point, would be to rush to Zara's aid before things got too out of hand. Sprinting was out of the question, since his leg was still on the way to being healed, but he hobbled up the hill as quickly as he could, rifle held at the ready the whole time.

The geography of the hilltop was much more erratic than expected, however, and even as he crested the hill, the soldier failed to achieve a decent vantage point. It was obvious that this had been done deliberately, and the subtly fortified hill provided an unforgiving home-field advantage, though the werehyena was determined to fight through the obstacles stacked against him. The moment he had a vague idea where his enemy was, he laid down brisk suppressing fire. No more measured, meticulously counted shots, he burned through a magazine about as quickly as he could without flipping his rifle to automatic, and by the time he realized he was out of ammunition, he was half-way to reloaded.

"Come on you fuckin' bastard!" he growled as he smacked the bolt release on the side of his weapon. An instant later, and he was drawing down on a much smaller location for his target to be hiding in. Unfortunately, he still wasn't spot-on, and return fire whizzed by his head, and a lucky shot ripped a chunk of flesh off his shoulder. "Eat a dick!" he retorted, having finally spotted the rifle-toting raider. At the same time, he'd cocked his left arm back, and by the time he whipped it forward as if to throw something, his hand had filled with a fireball. This one looked different than the ones that had exploded into clouds of smoke, though, and indeed, it was much more exhilarating. When this globe of flames smacked into the tree the bandit was hiding behind, it burst into a gout of fire so hot it made the tree explode as it superheated the air around it. The man was thrown backward, knocked down, and thoroughly dazed, but surprisingly, still alive. Of course, that was easily remedied, now that Kevin had a clear shot, and he squeezed off one last round to finish the job before he started looking for Zara...

[sanquin]

Luckily the bullets stopped coming her way before any of them actually hit her. However the machine guy directly in front of her had thought ahead. He wasn't just equipped with an unwieldy weapon, but had brought a small handgun as well. He rolled around to face her, having trouble getting his handgun out from the position he was sitting in right now. Though before she could reach, he still managed to aim and shoot it once. The bullet hit her left side, though luckily the wound was fairly shallow. However at this point it was already too late. As soon as Zara started running, the monster inside of her had started taking over quickly. And what now came running at the man wasn't a normal woman that would at least be slowed down by the wound a little but instead an angry, bloodthirsty vampire. In this state, Zara couldn't even feel the pain of her wound, let alone react to it.

"Shit, she's a vampir--aagghhh!" The man's warning was quickly replaced by painful screaming, as the vampiress had reached him. She immediately went for the man's throat, though instead only managed to sink her teeth into his flesh just above his shoulder. The man struggled to get her off, but of course it was to no avail. Unless one did a lot of training, a normal human wouldn't be able to beat a crazed vampire in strength. A few seconds later and the screams muffled, then disappeared completely. Zara had found his throat and had ripped it open without a moment's hesitation. A rather gruesome death, being eaten alive. Though it was one he had brought upon himself.

[Sarpedon]

By the time Kevin found Zara, she was snacking on the machine gunner. He'd rushed over when he heard the poor bastard's cries, but he was far too late to do anything but be a little disgusted at the sight of his companion chowing down on a corpse. As much as he disliked these people for attacking him, he didn't think they deserved to be a snack. That being said, it was better them, than him. So the werehyena went back to the other dead body and searched it for anything useful. He thought about trying to carry additional firepower, but decided it just wasn't worth the hassle. Rather than let anyone else have it, he leaned the man's rifle against a tree and stomped on it. When that didn't go as well as he'd hoped, the shaman used his magical fire to melt it just enough to render it useless.

That taken care of, he went back to where he'd left his friend, hoping she'd calmed down. On the way, he made the mistake of looking at his watch. "Oh, fuck..." he grumbled, having realized that it was far later than he'd hoped. Firefights took a lot longer than most people seemed to think. Even quick and dirty ones like this one soaked up hours. In this case, almost four. All that scrambling around, laying down suppressing fire, and trying to actually find someone to shoot took a lot of time, and a lot of energy. "I guess we're stopping soon, then..." he decided. They needed to get out of here, obviously, but they were going to have to find somewhere to stop for the night before it got dark...

[sanquin]

This time Zara was fairly quick to calm down again, since she had also eaten the day before. The body only had a few bites out of it here and there. Which was good, as it was a lot easier to search a still intact corpse. The bullets for the handgun the man had were useless for her own gun. But this one was a lot smaller, so it would do well as a backup. The woman winched as she yanked the belt with an extra clip on it from the man's waist, noticing only now that she had been shot. The adrenaline was quickly subsiding, and thus her wound was quickly starting to hurt more. "Fuck..." She muttered. Though at least it was a single non-fatal wound. Considering their opponents, the vampiress could have ended up with a lot worse.

Zara let herself rest against one of the rocks, opening her backpack to take some bandages out of it. The wound would need to be closed once they rested, but right now she had to at least stop the bleeding. Not wanting to strip out in the open, she only took off her jacket and lifted her shirt enough to expose her waist. Then she started to wrap the bandage around her as tightly as possible. By that time Kevin returned. The woman glanced at him for a moment before continuing with the bandages. "So...that was a rather anti-climactic ending to what feels like took far too long." She spoke. The sunlight was already starting to fade by now, even if only a little. It still meant they would have to find shelter soon though. "I'm guessing we won't be travelling much longer today. Which is a good thing, as I think my side needs some proper care first." That, and though she didn't want to admit it, Zara was actually pretty tired now. Before this little trip, the most exercise she got was her scavenging runs around the city. And even then she always had her bike to ride on. So the hours of walking and the fight had pretty much drained her of all of her energy. "Any good spots around here?" She asked, unsure of what to look for herself. Her shelters had only consisted of a city, and bunkers so far.

[Sarpedon]

"You need help with that?" Kevin showed up just in time to see Zara trying to dress her own wounds, and while she was doing a decent job, it was always easier for someone else to do it, than to try and do it yourself. That being said, he wasn't going to do anything she didn't want him to. "That's usually how firefights go. With no support, there's never an exciting end. And even with support, they always take too long." he offered with a shrug. "Just long enough to find somewhere to sleep." he agreed when his companion off-handedly inquired about their itinerary. She said her wound needed proper care, but didn't seem inclined to do it right now, which was strange.

"If your side needs attention, we should do that now." he offered. He wasn't going to force medical help on the woman, but he didn't want to risk running around with her not properly patched up. "As for spots... I dunno. I was going to start looking in about half an hour. Let's get you patched up properly, then we'll get out of here." the sooner they found a safe place to sleep, the sooner he could start resting, and right now, he would do a lot for a decent rest. He took off his pack and fished out a first aid kit. It wasn't ideal, but he had disinfectants, clotting agent, dressings and bandages. Short of stitching up the vampire, this was about as good as it was going to get. If she insisted, he supposed they could leave it until later, but if it was up to him, Zara would be getting the full treatment before they went anywhere. The last thing he needed was his companion being put out of commission before they got to their destination...

[sanquin]

Kevin offered to help with her wound, which now that she thought about it was probably a good idea. She was so used to doing everything herself that asking him for help hadn't even occurred to her yet. "Uh...sure I guess. The sooner the better." She answered, unwrapping the bandage again and handing it to him. As she did, he was already grabbing some disinfectant as well. So he was already thinking more thoroughly about this than her. The wounds she got in the past were either treated by Geoffrey, or with plenty of time to take it slowly when she was in her hideout. Zara was kind of glad that she had decided to stick near the city now. Sure it was rough, but still a fairly safe lifestyle compared to what she had seen of the rest of the wasteland so far.

Once her wound was properly treated it was time to find a shelter. Her side still hurt, but this amount of pain could at least be ignored. And tomorrow said pain would most likely be gone anyway. Once again the woman was a little jealous of Kevin's ability to regenerate so quickly. Had what today was seen as vampires, been anything like the vampires from ancient stories, things would have been a lot more easy for her.

Once the vampiress had put on her jacket, put the belt from the dead man around her waist, and put the smaller handgun in the front pocket of her backpack she was ready to go. And once again she let Kevin take the lead, though she of course also kept an eye out for a decent shelter as they walked. The woman thought of having a smoke, but decided against that for now. They had already gotten enough attention for today. Maybe once they set up camp for the night she could have one. The air was starting to get colder, so they most likely needed a small camp fire anyway.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin jumped on helping Zara immediately when she agreed to let him patch her up. The sooner she was healed, the better. He didn't know how quickly vampires put themselves back together, but he supposed they would find out. It didn't take long to clean out the wound, get the bleeding stopped, and wrapped up. And soon enough the contractor was scanning about for a good direction. He had his heads-up-display pointing him in the right direction, but he was more concerned with cover than going the right way.

He decided to head directly toward their objective. It didn't take them out of their way, from a technical standpoint, and while they wouldn't actually be able to follow the straight line all the way to their destination, at least this way they wouldn't wind up off course if it turned out that there was no cover this way. Then, thanks to his map, the soldier found them a good spot even as they started moving. Then he groaned when he realized how far they would have to go. It was good to be out of the danger zone, but he was exhausted after so much fighting.

"Smoke 'em if you got 'em" he encouraged. "We've got forty-five minutes of walking ahead of us. It's going to be dark when we make camp, I think. Probably going to have to go the cuddle route to stay warm." he wasn't sure he liked the idea any more than Zara would, but it would be easier than trying to do much of anything in the dark. Mostly he was concerned that, as a relative stranger, his companion would insist on some weird cuddling technique that would make sleeping difficult. They both needed to be well-rested if they wanted to survive the next few days. "Feel free to eat on the way, too. Not usually a good idea, but the sooner we get settled and start resting, the better." then he realized what he'd said, and chuckled. "I guess you already ate, eh?" he chuckled some more and pulled out some snacks. Making a meal out of them wasn't the best, but it was better than nothing, and he wasn't going to try and cook tonight...

[sanquin]

"Tch...I really don't like smoking while on the move..." She muttered, though decided to grab a cigarette anyway. Having any kind of light during the night was probably a problem, as even something as small as a lighter or the glow from her cigarette could be seen from very far away by someone with exceptional sight. "I'm surprised you're not afraid to get that close to someone like me." The woman replied to his suggestion to huddle up. Who would want to cuddle with someone that might very well rip their throat apart, right? Or at least that's how people saw her. Things like that didn't happen unless she was really hungry. But others always believed it could happen at any time if they got too close. It did make her a little nervous though. She was still basically just a human, with human needs. Human contact was one of those. It wasn't as if this was meant as any kind of intimacy, but it was still a lot more intimate than she had been with anyone in years.

Her mind was quickly snapped back when Kevin mentioned eating. She smirked a little, wondering when he'd realize what he had just said. Which happened right afterwards. "Yea, I ate about the same in two days as I normally do in a week. So I should be good for day or two at the very least." Her body could probably do without food for a good three days now before things became problematic again. Though considering they were spending more energy by constantly walking something to eat before that would be preferable. "So, you found a spot to take shelter in? What kind of place is it? A ruin? Trees and bushes?" She was curious about what would make for a good enough shelter in the wasteland. As it was something she never had to deal with herself.